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FANTASY ISLAND

A B O U T

Exotic luxury, upward mobility, hurricane winds – the Caribbean swirls in the mind as a repository of desires carved into bikinis, beach fronts and sail boats. The melody heating up the crisis conga line is not “Despacito;” it is much quieter, almost imperceivable. Enter at your own risk! the lips of the models on the TV commercial warn us, but we enter anyway and we travel to Fantasy Island or La isla fantástica because in Puerto Rico we speak and think bilingually, we whisper in two ears.

Yes, there is an economic crisis and a Fiscal Oversight Board (a.k.a. La JUNTA), and the children of resistance dance over the wreckage of Hurricanes Irma and María. How did the story begin?

In a real estate office…

Welcome to Fantasy Island or La isla fantástica, a visual traumatic recovery. Try to resuscitate your pupils after watching the world through the vaporwave trail into three bedroom/two bathroom mansions, beaches and purchasable rain forests, back door deals and superlative architecture.

THE REAL ESTATE OFFICE / PERFORMANCE:

Opening Reception of Fantasy Island by Shey Rivera Ríos and Huáscar Robles. The installation and performance is an experience that explores how tourism and consumer culture sell a “fantastical” luxury lifestyle, a tropical paradise twisting crisis into “opportunity”. A door opens into a real estate office selling dreams of luxury and reconstruction and the viewer delves into a dizzying spell of animated gifs, performance and altars. On view until November 18th. Open to the public Thursdays and Friday from noon to 6pm, and/or by appointments. Photos by Audaz Productions / Melvin Audaz

About the artist

Shey Rivera Ríos is the Artistic Director of AS220. Rivera engages with art and culture as a catalyst for social change through community development, cross-sector partnerships, urban renewal, and creative industries. Outside of her arts management role, Rivera is a multi-genre artist active in the mediums of performance, installation, digital media, and poetry/narrative. The creations spam several genres and a myriad of topics, from home to capitalism to queerness to magic. Rivera is also a performance curator and producer of interventions that activate people creatively.